Reviews by sfoley333:

Poured from 22oz bottle stored refrigrated since the release into a duvel snifter. Poured a reddish orange color with thick white head and great lacing. Smell sweet tropical fruit and malt with faint pineapple scent. The taste grassy earth bitterness with a semi sweet malt taste. Mouthfeel is medium body with a great mellow carbonation level that isnt prickly or flat. The grassy bitterness makes this a one 22oz for me. I have tried this one when first released then again in 2004 and then now. I have to say for a double pale ale ( what lee once called it) it aged fine. Most of the tropical flavors and aroma are not as bright, only a grassy hoppiness remains and the sweetness mellowed out a bit more but a fine drinking beer that might be able to go even longer.

More User Reviews:

Appearance  This is a gorgeous, deep, dark orange body with a beautiful orangish head that comes up slowly but will not go away.

Smell  The beauty of the Ruination hops are in this bottle along with a malt body of some type. Theres also a very fine orange sweetness to this one. It seems to be very complex.

Taste  This has the big, beautiful, hoppy Stone flavor that we know and love. Add to this a quality effort at balancing hops and a huge, perfect, fruity orange finish. This is the pale ale to end all pale ales.

Theres not a hint of alcohol in this one. The balance is perfect. These hops, which are just awesome, mix incredibly well with the malt backbone. Then comes the oranges. The finish here is sensational. My wife happened to be drinking a Ruination when I popped this, so I did an impromptu taste test and actually prefer this to that. Unbelievable.

Mouthfeel  Fairly flat in accordance with the style. This is a full-bodied ale that fills the mouth and refreshes the pallet.

Drinkability  Are you kidding me? They cant make this fast enough for me to drink. I hate to seem like a band wagon jumper but this stuff is incredible.

Comments  I picked this up at Bottleworks in Seattle. I chose it for my 200th review, and boy was it deserving.

At first glance, I was expecting this to be very similar to the IPA due to the bumped up ABV, but was I wrong or what! This beer poured a beautiful reddish orange color with a good off white head and had a great citrus and carmel smell. The first thing that came to my mind regarding the taste was that it reminded me of the 2001Old Guardian that I had a few weeks back. The first thing that hits the palate is that great citrus flavor, then that is followed by a hint of sweetness then it finnishes with a healthy hop bite. This is definantly a good beer and I would get a lot more if only it were not $6.00 a bottle.

Update 6-24-04:

This beer has turned into something very different indeed in the 9 months since its release. The hop character has been quite subdued and the malt character has taken over quite a bit! This reminds me of the Old Guardian Barleywine even more now, but with less of an alchohol flavor of corse. Still, a very good beer and my review numbers stand.

Ahhh...my lone bottle of this brew. I've been holding onto it for long enough and am ready to enjoy it. Pours from the bomber a viscous deep opaque dark orange with hint of dark red. A nice inch of eggshell foam forms and then leaves some spotty lacing in its wake. Aromas are deeply malty upfront with sweet caramel, raisins, citrus and dark fruits. Sticky pine bough hops are resiny and forward. Subtle alcohol. Sweet candied bread. Wow...after over 2 years the nose is still enchanting...reminds me of a barleywine.

First sip brings a big massively caramel maltiness upfront. Notes of citrus and dark fruits abound. Hints of raisins, molasses and brown sugar. Flows down with a big helping of piney, resinous hops that leave a nice bitter trail. Alcohol is there as well but does not detract from the overall brew. This has really aged quite nicely. I wish I could have tasted it fresh! Rich and tasty.

Mouthfeel is fairly thick and chewy with a nice stable carbonation that works well. Fills the mouth and takes hold...I like that. I wouldn't mind having another bomber lying around here. I have no clue how this will age from here on out but I'd say it's pretty tasty right now! Well worth trying if you can still find it or if you still have some lying around. Thanks to kmpitz2 for the opportunity to sample this one.

Appearance: Tawny iced tea colour, the lacing is as expect from any Stone Brewing product with its intense lacing.

Smell: Orange juice aroma, fruity alcohol and some malt dust in the back.

Taste & Mouthfeel: A hard fist to the chin with the hops, bitter with a resin that wont let go metallic and pungent. A small spinning maltiness stays small or at least slightly hidden. Bitterness still pounds away and then the alcohol kicks in and lets loose a pummeling of fruitiness and ester warmth dare I say fusel?

Notes: All whacked out on Scooby snacks. It was like a kick in the teeth yet I would not mind trying it again. Between the alcohol and bitterness from the hops it pretty much decimated my palate for the night.

bomber bottle, pours reddish amber. tiny bubble film and lacing evident. Hoppy nose. Another high quality, hoppy ale from my heros at Stone. This one is nicely balanced, malty/hoppy. well done. Warming and strong, medium bodied, sticky/creamy mouthfeel. Finish is long and tasty. Get some of this stuff while you still can.

OK I have to be honest, I poured this one into my "Big Ass Beer Dick's Last Resort Glass". I'm a bouncer there and the glass was free, and tonight it was clean...what's a BA to do?

Light amber/ copper color with a nice head that took its sweet time to fizzle down to the liquid below. White, bubblly rings lace the glass while a thin white tarp remains over the beer.

The smell...it got me right away. The smell screams Stone Product and is one of the reasons I'm a fan of their beers. That sweet, malty aroma draws me in every time and this Anniversary Ale delivers big time.

Even though the hops in this bad boy punch you in the mouth as they journey down your gullet there is a nice maltiness in there as well that is somewhat comforting as you can actually taste something other than hop oil (not that one needs to ever taste anything more than hop oil mind you).

Feels good in the mouth and going down. Very smooth and tasty, but leaves you smacking your lips after it's made its way down to your innards.

No way I'm going to drink more than one at a sitting, but I'd love to have another, and soon. The fact that I drank this a year after it was put out didn't seem to diminish it's taste and certainly not my love for this beer.

Peach colored with an off-white head, little retention and lacing. Smell is of apricots, peaches, flowers, and biscuits. Taste is of peaches, apricots, tangerine, orange rind, and some sweet malt. Medium carbonation and lighter than medium body. This beer has held up much better than I imagined it would. Would love to try it again.

Presentation: 22oz. bomber with a plethora of prodigious pontification screened on the bottle.

Appearance: Poured a hazy dull orange in color. Absolutely incredible sheeting action of descending froth on the side of the glass. It looked like a freshly-pulled Guinness! Just a never-ending cascade of sheeting action. Unreal. Immensely-thick and inhumanely sticky head dominates the top of the glass. S-T-I-C-K-Y lace covers nearly all of the glass. Easily of one the best-looking beers I've had in a long....LONG time.

Smell: Hops, baby! Freakin' HOPS! Citrus and spicy hops bludgeon the nasal passages. Malty sweetness rides shotgun to this juggernaut of aromas. You can hear it coming from miles away and it's everything you imagined.

Taste: (OldFrothingSlosh bows in front of the bottle, repeatedly chanting: "I'm not worthy!") Stone tees off and hits the long ball ("He's a big hitter, the Llama...long.") Avalanche of "You will respect my authori-TAR" flavors beat you about the head in a flurry of flavors. Amazingly balanced. The malts battle fiercely with the hops and manage to hold their own. The fierce and imposing wizard Humulus Lupulus fires lightning bolts of flavor across your palate, only to be countered by the high priestess Carmella Sugar. A battle to be remembered for all of time. Death squads of bitterness roam the battlefield once the main players have departed, only to be picked off at random by the crack sniper squad of the Sweetness Squadron. The human palate was not intended for this god-like battle and you can only hope to live long enough to fully savor the contents of this bottle.

Mouthfeel: Two huge flavor profiles wage a contest of supremacy on your palate. Despite the epic battle, this beer manages a very dignifed level of balance. Very, very smooth and definitely on the creamy side. Your palate abases itself for the little lady...and enjoys every minute of it.

Drinkability: One wouldn't think that a 77IBU, 7.7% ABV beer could be called "session", but that's exactly what I thought. Honestly, I could drink this all friggin' night, day, week, month, and love every drop. Must get more of this. Seek this out and try it, I beg of you.

Once again, I raise my glass to the true BA AKSmokedPorter for this bottle.

Orangey copper color with a thick tan head of bubbles of many sizes. It sinks quickly, but leaves a thin layer atop, with big bubbles all around the edges. Aroma is thick, and full of pear and apple, some cinnamon and vanilla. I can also tell from the sweetness in the smell that this one's got some pouch. Initially sweet, biscuity, a little buttery. Sweet malts come through, plus a little toffee. Some hops in the finish, but wow, the alcohol jumps out too. The sweetness and the alcohol dominate. I find with many Stone brews that there is depth of flavor waiting to be unleashed, but is being held back by the alcohol flavors.

The 7th Anniversary pours a ruby copper tone with a nice thicket of foamy cream hued head leaving full lattice forming rings of lace. Aromatics are deep sweet freshly baked doughy bread wih hops arising in a fine stream toward my senses sweet layer of plum and fig tones nice!!! Taste is full flavored smack you in the face wake up but yet not as hoppy as most of their brews mainly just incredibly balanced with a ton of malt and hops this beer brings it to the plate. Deep malty biscuit cinammon tones jut across my tongue wow, this beer is amazing especially as it warms the characteristic Stone flavor is awesome it just blends so well with most of their beers. Hops are citrusy sweet cookie dough esk with maple syrup and pine tones hitting me in several directions wow is this complex, but somehow completely smooth at the same time.
Mouthfeel is creamy as can be with a full body great texture can't beat this one, Stone at their best. Drinkability is bred from the pure fact that the beer is so flavorful and complex that you need another one to come down from the shock, and once you get past two of 'em your just hooked that's all there is to it.

Dull bronze with restrained carbonation underneath a thin and sticky bleached khaki head.
Nose is suprisingly muted. Hoppy yes, piney and mildly resinous, with a toasty malt underbelly, but lacking in aromatics compared with many of Stone's other brews. Significantly lacking.
Taste begins with a toasted muffin malt base. Quite dry, and English-leaning. ESB-like. Sweetens considerably by the midpoint, as pear-skins and caramel-drenched apples appears. The conclusion is hop-centric, as would be expected. Pine and raw leaves and juicy orange rinds. Not to IPA levels (at least not to Stone IPA levels). The hop bite has hints of earth and smoke to boot.
Full bodied, but quite drinkable. A fine pale ale, but not the earth-shattering moment I had expected. This is nevertheless a worthy brew and one well worth seeking out.

Has there ever been a more gimmicky beer? ... 7.7% abv, 7.7 fonts on the bottle... I'm just surprised they didn't release it on July 7th like the Vertical Epic beers! Greg cracks me up. BUT, and this is a big BUT, this beer rocks! It's not just about gimmicks and a collectable bottle... it walks the walk!

Although it's almost 2 years old, it still pours a cloudy orange-amber body (must be the hops!). In fact, it looks like a hefeweizen except that the head is limited to a creamy 1/8" of off-white foam. What is there, however, holds quite well and leaves superb wide rings of lace about the glass with each sip.

The nose is subtly caramelish and a touch piney, but the flavor is much bolder than that!

It may have lost some carbonation in the cellar, but it's now gently crisp with a dextrinous, medium-full body that's creamy and smooth across the palate.

The flavor delivers a lush, but not quite rich, softly caramelish, delicately toasty, and sweetly bready (think the innards of a Cinnabon without the cinnamon) malt that's oh-so-perfectly balanced by piney and lightly fruity/citrusy hops and a stiff bitterness. It finishes dry but with some short lingering sticky malt that fades to leave piney hops and bitterness behind.

I never tried this fresh so I'm not sure if it's mellowed and rounded, but I'd imagine the hops were a little bit more agressive 23 months ago. And if the alcohol was noticeable before, it's not now! So if you've got it, drink it.... I don't think it's going to get any better than this!

IN CONCLUSION - - - - - - - - -
In my best Spicoli voice: All I need right now are some tasty waves and a pizza to go with this beer and I'm righteous! I mean dude, I so totally regret not buying more of these bodaciuos brews!!! (slaps forehead) Gnarly!!!

Bottled August 2003.
Has a tight creamy beige head, clear amber/gold liquid. Nose is lots of aged hops with a sugary sweet malt underpinning with some alcohol sensed too. Fruity flavors abound in the taste, with intense maltiness that fills the mouth without the cloying mouthfeel, and a nicely balanced blast of mellowed yet still potently bitter hop smack...can also taste a bit of the 7.7 percent alcohol. Finishes flowery, bitter and bready, good stuff! Easily the best of the Stone beers I've had to date.
Thanks Craig once again!

Clear copper/orange hue with a frothy, sticky off-white head. Leaves huge bubbly lace down the pint glass. Impressive. Nose is of strong citrus fruit, piney hops, and sweet malt. Taste is a true wonder. Initially, huge notes of assertive, sappy, resinous hops hit the palate in a big way. Loads of citrus fruit linger on the finish until a vastly complementary caramel malt profile shows its face providing extraordinary balance. This particular beer sets itself apart from Stone's IPAs especially with this excellent balance between the heavy-handed addition of Amarillo hops and copious amounts of sweet malts. Sure, it may break some "pale ale" style guidelines, but on its own, this is really good. Mouthfeel is smooth, palate-coating, and the carbonation levels are done right. The alcohol, though hard to detect, is certainly there, preventing this from becoming any kind of session brew, and thus inhibiting drinkability just a bit. Nevertheless, an excellent creation from Stone... like usual.

22oz bomber feels nice in the hand with the silkscreened label. Pours a reddish amber with small off white head. Citrusy hop aroma, very pleasing. Thick mouthful, medium bubbles. Taste is more citrus hops, orange, grapefruit, some pineapple. good fruity malt balance. Alcohol actually hit me on the first few sips, but was gone after that. Tangy hops in the finish. Fresh hop burps ensue.

Pale ale? IPA? Don't know, don't care. This is one excellent brew. Kind of like a Junior Bastard.

pours out a beautiful sunset orange with a tiny white head that leaves a perfect sticky lace throughout the entire drinking experiance. smells of hops, malt and caramel drift up my shnoz and put a grin on my face. the taste? oh man, im glad ive finally grown to enjoy the assault of hops because this brew is awesome. not only does it have a great hop flavour but its matched against a strong malt sweetness that makes the perfect balance, this is heaven. the alcohol character is hidden amazingly and this is so drinkable its deadly. the mouth feel it slightly heavy, slightly chewy and sticky and wonderful. damn this beer is great. good thing the store down the street got in a bunch of cases so ill have to hit it up tomorrow and swoop some up. maybe sit on a few and see how they age. ill throw up the goat for this brew.

Pours a hazy copper color with a head taht leaves as fast as it comes. Heavy citrus hop note dominates aroma with minor malt nuances. Taste is great dark caramel malt, followed by a huge avalanche of hop bitterness. Both sides of this beer fight your taste buds but the balance produces a very pleasurable drink.

Pours a warm, lively amber with copper edges. A puffy tan head starts out well, at a full finger thick, then fades to a thin cap. Fair amount of lacing. Well balanced aroma with a hefty dose of West Coast high alpha acid hops (lots of citrus and a touch of a floral note) on top of a sweet, slighty caramelly and bready malt base. The first thing on my palate is pine resin, then the rest of the hop flavors open up: grapefruit, lemon peel, orange zest... The malts are a bit on the sweet side, which contrasts well with the hop bitterness. Faint suggestions of earth and bread. There's a small flush of alcoholic warmth that grows on the tail end. Finishes bitter, with a considerable sweet undercurrent. Medium in body, with a rich fullness that is aided by Stone's typical undercarbonation that lends a syrupy mouthfeel. My only complaint is that the malt sweetness borders on cloying once it warms up a bit. A well done, and decidedly 'Stone-tasting,' pale ale.

Taste: wow, not as hoppy as expected after smelling it. Sweet malty tones followed up by the inevitable hops flavor. Citrusy, grapefruit-like taste comes on strong but not out of control. Warming alcohol bite at the end.

Feel: Full, smooth and creamy.

Drinkability: holy crap, that was good! Only downside keeping this brew from a "5" is the rather high % ABV. It's not outrageous, but insidious and will have you tuned in short order. That being said, this is an elegantly crafted beer that's got me itching to try it on tap next weekend at Stone's 7th Anniversary Open House. Another home run brew from Stone.